Warrior Ethos

In the early 1970s my younger brother, Jonny was drafted into the Army for two years of service in the Armed Forces of our great country.  At that time our country was fighting the Viet Nam War and in those days the draft was in effect which means that when a young man turned 18 years of age they were called up to join the military to fight for the United States.  For those two years, they were the “property” of the US Army.

That was made clear in a story that my brother recently told me about the day Jonny was leaving for Viet Nam.  Wanting to send him off in style, several friends along with my brothers went with him to the airport.  As they said their goodbyes with many stories of their past antics and plenty of joking around they noticed a plane taxiing down the runway.  Inquiring at the desk, what plane that was they found that all the farewell fanfare had caused time to get away from them and that indeed was my brother’s plane that had just left. The agent got on the phone while my brother waited anxiously.  To everyone’s surprise, the great silver plane turned around just short of the end of the runway and came back to get my bewildered brother.  He belonged to something bigger than himself. They had prepared a place for him so they returned to get him that he would not be left behind.

In these times of turmoil and heightened awareness of sin in this world, much has been said in Christian circles of the returning of Christ to take His children home.  Experts have been watching the signs of the times for centuries and things according to some means the time is short for His return to gather His own.

Matthew 24:42 says, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

In many ways, I long for His return but my heart breaks for those who aren’t ready. Those according to the bible will be left behind because they did not choose Jesus as Savior.  The Army has a basic rule called Warrior Ethos which means they will not leave a fallen comrade behind to be taken by the enemy.  In this busy world, I pray I do not fail to tell everyone about the returning Savior and what they must do to be saved.  The day before Jonny died, I prayed with him and with trembling lips, he asked Jesus into his heart. I don’t know if he flew off to heaven in a chariot or perhaps a big silver airplane but I am sure he did not miss his flight.

Warrior Ethos!